


5 Different Ways Arthur Met Dom

by michals



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: 5 Things, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-10
Updated: 2011-07-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 05:54:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/221675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/michals/pseuds/michals
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 possible scenarios of how they first met.</p>
            </blockquote>





	5 Different Ways Arthur Met Dom

**Author's Note:**

> For [this prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/9742.html?thread=19728142#t19728142) at the kink meme.

1\. He takes the tickets. He has to, he knows that, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. He's rushed out the door of his house, his home that he made with Mal, with his kids, and into a waiting car. A young man with slicked back hair and a three piece suit sits behind the wheel. He barely spares Dom a glance before pulling out into traffic.

Dom's head is reeling too much to talk. He stares out the window, seeing nothing behind the blur of tears in his eyes. The driver doesn't talk either but drives quickly and erratically to the airport. When they park he leaves the keys in the car and moves to the trunk to take out a bag. He hustles Dom through the parking garage and into the airport, and Dom lets him, morosely and without much thought. It's only when the man joins him in line at the check-in counter that he becomes confused.

"Who are you, exactly?" Dom manages, hoping his voice doesn't sound as raw to others as it does to his own ears.

The man turns to him and Dom finally gets a good look at his face. He can't be over 25, though the pinched expression makes him looks years older. He sticks out a hand, "Arthur. Miles sent me to take care of you."

Dom shakes Arthur's hand, "Oh." he mutters and is lost in his own head again.

Arthur doesn't seem the least bit put off by Dom's distraction and takes care of both their bags, getting through security (though Dom manages to take off his own shoes) and to their gate. Their plane is boarding and Arthur hands the attendant the tickets with a charming smile, one hand on Dom's arm, gently maneuvering him through the gate arm and into their seats.

Even through the flight Arthur remains intent on keeping Dom from making any kind of decisions or having to interact with anyone; ordering him a drink and taking care of his meal. His aisle seat keeps him between Dom and anyone who approaches.

Halfway through the flight, after two watery glasses of scotch - Dom's not going to ask how Arthur knew - he has the wherewithal to feel just a little bad about having only exchanged all of 5 words with the man who is obviously his new caretaker.

He scrubs a hand across his face, "I'm...sorry, I just...can't..."

"I understand."

Dom's a little surprised at the answer and when he peeks out from behind his fingers he finds Arthur finally devoid of that oh-so-in-control look he's been sporting in favor of something softer.

When Dom doesn't say anything, Arthur continues, "Miles didn't tell me exactly what happened but from what he could tell me..." He trails off. "From that alone I...understand, Mr. Cobb."

"Dominic." Dom sighs and tries to stretch out in the seat.

"What?"

"Call me Dominic. Or Dom." Dom manages a wan smile and is pleased to see Arthur's charming grin in return.

"Well, Dom. Miles told me about what you do, as an extractor. We're going to meet him in the airport when we get to Paris by the way. Miles has been training me, a little."

"Oh?" Dom sips at a third scotch, trying to give into the buzz it gives him.

Arthur talks the rest of the flight while Dom drinks. By the time Arthur brings up being Dom's point man Dom's drunk enough to say, "Yes, yes of course."

After that, Arthur never really stops taking care of him.

-

2\. Life as Mal's point man has never been dull; Arthur has that much to say. As calm as she is, the life that surrounds her is a whirlwind that Arthur is constantly caught up in, trying to keep her on some sort of schedule, even if she does try her damnedest to ignore it.

"We have to be there by the 17th or else we'll miss Mr. Schrader after he leaves for New Delhi." Arthur tries to rip a single piece of paper from the stack in his hands while trying to keep up with Mal as she strides along the hallway, her high heels clacking on stone floors.

"Who's Mr. Schrader again?" She asks with a vague glance over her shoulder to him.

Arthur almost rolls his eyes, "Our mark, Mal. And the thing is he only speaks German so you need to-"

"Arthur, dear, can it wait five minutes until after I've seen my father? Surely Mr. Schrader won't become even more of a philandering prig in those five minutes?" She throws a coy smile to him and though he wants to protest, he knows he's no match for her charms.

They hear muttering from around a corner until Miles emerges, being doggedly pursued by a blonde man. The man is obviously very intently arguing about something, though the look on Miles's face suggests the professor is just humoring him good-naturedly.

"Papa!" Mal chirps and Miles looks up with a grin as she swoops on him with a hug. The blonde man stands back with his hands in his pocket, a slight smile on his lips as he watches. Arthur takes a moment to look him over, and to say he's not disappointed would be an understatement.

The man is all shoulders and broad chest, though there's just enough of a baby-faced roundness to him to make him instantly charming. His slicked back hair is slightly mussed and his suit is a tad askew, giving him an air of easy going amiability, but the blue eyes belie a potential for earnest passion. In turn, Arthur wants to hear him talk, he wants to get a drink with him, and he wants to bend him over something. His heart skips a beat.

When Mal pulls away from her father, both of them talking animatedly in French, Miles puts out his hand to Arthur. Arthur drags his eyes away from the blonde stranger long enough to give Miles a handshake and a smile.

"Mal dear, Arthur, this is Dominic Cobb, one of my more...inventive students." Miles says with a gesture towards the man and a quirked eyebrow and a smirk on his lips.

"I guess that's the nice way of putting it." Cobb says with a flash of white teeth, then he looks to Arthur and Mal.

The look he gives Arthur makes Arthur's knees buckle.

"Arthur." Cobb says and puts out his hand and Arthur has to shake himself out of his daze to take it.

"Mal? Was it?" Cobb says, turning his attention to her. She puts out a hand and he bends to kiss it. "Enchanté." Cobb looks up to her with a look in his eyes...the same look that he gave Arth-

Oh.

Mal gives a little breathy laugh, and with a smirk replies, "Enchanté, Mr. Cobb." Arthur knows that smirk. Arthur knows that tone of voice. He's worked with her long enough; she likes him.

"Please," Cobb says, never letting go of her hand, "Call me Dominic."

"Dom was telling me all about his idea, some ploy...what was it Dom?" Miles says and starts leading them back down the hallway.

Dom and Mal have yet to stop staring at each other and he gently leads her by the hand as they follow Miles down the hallway, Cobb explaining distractedly about some tactic for evading a mark's projections.

Arthur dejectedly follows behind them, still trying to pretend that that look was all for him.

-

3\. Arthur considers the experiment successful so far, considering he's been in New York for three weeks and has yet to be mugged.

Oh his mother warned him all about the big city. Told him he'd be robbed the minute he stepped off the train and why did he want to go to New York? There's plenty of opportunities in Athens, Ohio, especially such a bright boy like him, like did he ever think about being a pharmacist?

No, Ohio was not really what Arthur had in mind. New York, on the other, while _actually_ what he had in mind, never really stopped terrifying him.

And any security he does manage to feel gets blown to all hell when a well-built man grabs him by the arm, drags him into an alley and throws him against the wall.

Arthur really can't be blamed for the unmanly shout he lets out.

"Hey, hey man! Here's my wallet! Take whatever!" he fumbles for his back pocket but he's shaking like a leaf and his internal monologue goes something like: _Oh God Oh God why did I ever leave Ohio?!_

"Shut up!" The man snaps, and Arthur jumps. The guy's big, blonde, blue eyed and glancing around furtively. Through his panic Arthur makes out the sound of running footsteps and thinks it's just his luck that the guy has buddies to aid him in kicking Arthur's ass.

"Play along, okay?" The man says, and it's not angry but instead it almost sounds like he's begging.

Arthur's two seconds away from asking what in the hell that means and please just don't hurt me, when the man crushes their lips together.

This is certainly not the kind of thing that happens in Athens, Ohio.

Arthur is half afraid of what'll happen if he doesn't go with the crazy man's plan, and half _really_ enjoying the kiss. The man tastes like cinnamon and kisses like he's drowning and Arthur's got a lungful of air. To further throw Arthur off his axis, the man suddenly spins them around and now it's Arthur pinning him to the wall.

Through the haze Arthur makes out the sound of footsteps again, hears them stop for a half a beat and then take off down the street. They're long gone when the man finally pushes Arthur away.

Arthur stumbles over his own feet as the man moves to peer around the alley. Arthur watches him, dumbstruck.

"Sorry about that." The man says, smirking a little when he sees the look on Arthur's face. "Thank you though."

"Uhm...yeah, no prob-" The man pulls a gun from his waistband and drops the magazine. Arthur squeaks. But just a little.

"Wh-what was that all about?" Arthur asks, going against every one of his instincts and tentatively following the man down the other end of the alley.

"Oh, I seem to have...pissed off some former clients of mine. They were gaining on me until I saw you." He gives Arthur a little grin and Arthur's stomach flips.

"Clients? What kind of clients?"

The guy turns back to Arthur, "Don't worry about it kid. Listen, thanks for the cover, I owe you one." He reaches into his jacket and pulls out a card which he hands to Arthur.

It's white and almost blank save the word "Cobb" and a phone number.

"Yeah, uh, no problem Mr...Cobb." When Arthur looks up the guy's gone.

Arthur runs to the end of the alley and sees the man jogging down the street.

Arthur knows he has to make a snap decision: he could say "fuck this" and go back home and be safe and normal for the rest of his life or...he could go for the more exciting option.

"Hey! Wait up!" He calls as he runs after Cobb.

-

4\. Arthur is no stranger to street fights. In the last year alone he's been in...well, 15 he can remember but there were definitely times when he woke up from a night of drinking feeling like he'd been in a fight. A beat up hand is hardly the worst injury he's ever had.

The paramedics aren't happy to see him. He's just some college kid with too much freedom and too much booze in his blood and a cut up hand is nothing to them. Arthur doesn't apologize because he never does, and he grins when the female EMT gives him a nasty look in response to his cheesy come-on.

They get his hand bandaged up and open the back doors on the ambulance when a hand grabs the EMT by the arm, swinging her around and bringing her face-to-face with a harried dark-haired woman clutching a blonde man around the waist.

The woman says, "We're taking this one." in a French accent.

"Lady, what are you talking-" The EMT starts, then gets a load of the guy on her arm. There's a large red blood stain spreading across his shirt and his fingers as he clutches at the wound.

"Whoa! Charlie, we got a knife wound back here!" She shouts to her partner and moves to put the guy's other arm around her shoulder.

Arthur doesn't protest as they heft the man into the back, and even gives the French woman a little smile as she looks him dead in the eye and says, "Sorry Shorty."

Arthur is just a tad intrigued and a lot of a sneaky little jackass that he slips up through the open door and shuts it behind him.

"What the _hell_ are you doing in here?" The EMT shouts at him as she starts running an IV to the arm of the man who's currently lying on the stretcher.

"I was hoping to get some, like, morphine or something? My hand really hurts." Charlie's off and running and the ambulance bounces down the streets with the sirens blaring.

"Insolent brat!" The French woman spits. The man on the gurney snorts.

A smile spreads across Arthur's face, "Hey man, you're looking pretty bad."

"Oh really?" The man says, sounding amused if rough.

"Yeah. I mean, if I'd known we were playing Who Can Get More Fucked Up, I would've gotten shot or something."

The man gives a wane laugh and the woman scowls at Arthur harder.

"Hey, can you ask your woman to move? I think she's sitting on the morphine."

That gets an outright laugh from the guy and Arthur grins in the face of the woman, who looks ready to shoot him herself.

"I'm Dom," the man says, and reaches behind the woman to present a bloody left hand. Arthur shakes it awkwardly with his non-injured hand.

"This is Mal." Dom says, gesturing towards the woman, "Don't piss her off." He gives another laugh and promptly passes out.

-

5\. Dominic Cobb retreats to the bar for a drink. Or several. He'll decide how drunk he'll get later, right now he needs a scotch and maybe some bar peanuts.

Arthur isn't aiming to get drunk, but he is aiming to get laid. He goes to the hotel bar and orders, scanning the place as the bartender mixes.

He stops at the sight of the slumped over man at the end of the bar. Blonde, big shouldered, hot as hell and currently drowning his sorrows in a glass. Arthur takes his drink and sidles up to him.

"Hey, don't drown."

Dom looks up to find a brilliant white smile, and the slick young man attached to it. Well, he wasn't really expecting this...but now it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. He looks the guy over and approves of the lithe body, the handsome face and the three piece suit. He could do a lot worse with someone...someone _like that_.

"Oh. Heh, yeah it's been a long day." Dom answers, turning his chair a little towards Arthur as he sits beside him.

"Yeah? Well, it's almost over..."

"Dom. Dom Cobb." Dom shakes the young man's hand, and the guy holds on just a beat too long and answers,

"Arthur. What do you do for a living Dom?"

Dom snorts into his drink, feeling a little cynical about the day's progress. If he has another like that one, he won't be living too much longer. "Whatever pays highest." He remarks.

Arthur's taken aback. Oh. _Ooh_. He wasn't expecting that. The guy looks like a suit, a business man on a trip. He thinks about where to go from there, takes one look at the man who's giving him a sloppy grin with the half-closed bedroom eyes and thinks, fuck it, it's totally worth it.

"What're you drinking Dom?"

They continue to get tipsy and talk for almost three hours there in the bar. It's the kind of conversation strangers have on vacation at first, simple and stupid, but with each little laugh, each joke, and each time one leans just a bit too far into the other's space, it starts getting much too heated for such a public setting. Arthur's got a hand placed dangerously low on the small of Dom's back, and Dom's taken to making jokes at a much lower volume so he feels the need to say everything right into Arthur's ear. The bartender's been glaring at them for about an hour.

Arthur finally looks up and gestures for his check. The bartender brings them each one, and there's an awkward beat where they each eyeball each other's check, then Arthur signs his room number on his and hands over the pen to Dom for him to sign.

They stumble out of the bar and pause at the elevators.

"Your room, or mine?" Arthur asks, still trying to play cool despite the buzz of both the alcohol and proximity to Dom.

Dom purses his lips, he's not really sure how he's supposed to play this. "I'm on the 12th floor."

"14th." Arthur says.

"Ah, there we go, mine's closer." Dom says, grinning and swaying toward the elevator. Arthur reaches out a hand to catch him and they laugh as they fall into the elevator on top of each other.

It's there in the elevator that Arthur grabs Dom by his shirt collar and drags his lips across Dom's. Dom groans and holds onto the elevator rail to get leverage as he grinds their hips together. Arthur practically growls and bites at Dom's lips, very tempted to give the all-seeing eye of the security camera a nice cocky little grin.

Dom yanks Arthur out of the elevator by his tie and leads him to his room. Arthur trips along goofily behind him and watches Dom's ass. Dom opens the door and they tumble through it. Arthur reaches behind him to slam it shut and goes back to attacking Dom's mouth.

By the time they make it to the bed, Arthur's minus a tie and a vest but Dom's only got his pants on. Arthur moves to rectify this but as he starts unbuttoning his shirt Dom clears his throat.

"How're we...I mean, are you..." He's looking everywhere but at Arthur and his face is flushed.

Holy crap, is he nervous? Arthur thinks. He didn't know people, people like him got nervous. And then a little triumphant thrill goes through him at the thought that he was able to make Dom nervous.

Arthur gives up on his shirt, yanks at Dom's fly and swallows his cock down without any further pretense. Okay, so Arthur knows he's really not supposed to be the one doing this, but hey, it's his dime and Dom just smells _so good_ and the little strangled noise he makes is beyond encouragement.

Dom arches his hips up into the warm wet mouth and can't help but whimper with every expert swipe of tongue, every hum and obscene slurp. He tightens his hands in the comforter and Arthur pulls away and mutters "Don't come."

Dom props himself up on his elbows and watches, confused, as Arthur rummages through his discarded suit jacket. He pulls out two tell-tale foil packets victoriously.

Wait, Dom thinks, isn't he supposed to...? Not that this isn't good. Not that he isn't practically begging Arthur to fuck him anyway, and when Arthur gets on his knees between Dom's legs, Dom does just that.

"Jesus, Arthur fuck me."

This guy is good, is all Arthur can think and, after divesting both of them of their pants, shoves two fingers inside Dom. Arthur can only manage that for all of a minute before he has to replace his fingers with his cock and from there on the primal part of his brain takes over and he pushes into Dom with a snap of his hips and a really badly concealed sob of pleasure.

Dom is so deliciously tight and warm and Arthur knows that he's already found his perfect moment and if he could he would never leave. It helps that Dom's clutching at his own hair, his eyes shut tight, begging Arthur, "More, more..."

All good things must come to an end and Arthur presses his hands into Dom's hips hard enough to bruise when he comes. Before he pulls out he wraps a hand around Dom's cock and strokes twice before Dom, already on the edge, comes with a shout.

Now is the part Arthur was dreading. He needs to get his clothes and leave. But instead he falls on the bed, which feels so soft and warm next to Dom, and splays a hand across the panting chest of the other man.

Dom smiles a little and without thinking, holds onto the hand on his chest. He knows there's something he's supposed to do now, but his head's in the clouds and when he looks over Arthur's already asleep and before he knows it, he is too.

Dom wakes to the sound of rustling fabric. He blinks at the light streaming in through the blinds and tries to sit up. At the end of the bed Arthur's got his pants and shirt on, though both are undone, his belt hanging uselessly off his hips. He's got his tie in one hand and his open wallet in the other. Dom opens his mouth to speak but Arthur beats him to it.

"So, uhm, how much?"

Dom must be groggier than he feels. "What?"

"Well, I did stay the whole night, so that's gotta be, what-"

There's probably a better way to ask, but Dom can only muster, "What?" again.

Arthur finally looks up at him, "How much for the night?"

"I'm not a hooker." Dom says, feeling his eyes go wide.

Arthur blinks.

"You're not?"

"No. I, uh, thought you were." Dom says.

Arthur stiffly sits down on the bed, staring at the bills he's holding in his hand. Well.

He turns to Dom with a smirk, "Well, you were really good anyway, so you should take at least some of this."

Dom flops back down on the bed and laughs.


End file.
